The Last Dance
by Curry-Ona
Summary: AU, NejiTen. Things may not happen the way we wanted, and we might end up losing the people we hold dear. But she taught him how dance, and that was something no one can take away from him. This fic isn't really about dancing.


**/edited this baby this 08-02-2013**

**Just a NejiTen oneshot born from too much coffee and too much Eraserheads music.**

**"The Last Dance"**

**By: Curry-ona**

She had never been best dancer, Neji could say. She did not have the flowing grace and delicacy a ballerina would have nor did she posses the _swag_ or the attitude when she had danced to the tunes of a funky modern dance mix. She had always managed to crush his toes during waltz on prom night, with or without those 4 inch rods of demise women prefer to call 'high-heels'. Even on those frilly, little production number she had partaken on her pre-school and early grade school days, Tenten had done a wonderful job at consistently making a mistake or two…or three…or six.

But Hyuuga Neji, now a successful attorney, could say that Tenten, amateur dancer that she was, gets the title of being his first dancing teacher.

Neji was seven when they had met. They both belonged to average families and lived average lives. Their houses stood side by side, and two houses down was Rock Lee's, and together they played like normal children would, or as normal as they could get. As a child, Neji has always been silent and a perfectionist at such a tender age, children tend to shy away from due to this imposing aura he'd emit and his demanding nature when in play. He enjoyed being in control and disliked ignorant morons, which most seven-year-olds were.

Tenten was his opposite. Friendly, cheery and eternally curious, only she had the ability to please Neji and tolerate his character. Together they complement each other, with Neji asking and Tenten openly giving. Lee spiced things up with his unending quest to achieve the power of youth his foster father, Maito Gai, had and constantly babbled about.

They had attended the local public school, with Neji and Tenten in the same class and Lee on another. Along this phase, Neji and Tenten grew closer. He shared secrets with her, and she told him everything she knew. They managed to get by with just the two of them, and Lee whenever their schedules would permit. Things went well.

Until Tenten's father died on a car accident and her mother, in an attempt to drown the sorrow, became alcoholic. Since then, Tenten would spend most of her days at Neji's, only going home during bedtime and would go back there again first thing in the morning. Despite the added time together, Neji saw that Tenten somehow changed. Her sparkling honey eyes would dull at times, when she thought he was busy polishing the toy shuriken. That time, Neji felt like searching the world for anything that would make her happy all the time.

Their first dance lesson started that one Saturday afternoon inside his room. They were trying to answer a crossword puzzle while listening to the battery-operated radio Neji's father once owned. When a particular song and a hard question came up, Neji found himself tapping his foot with the music. When he saw Tenten smile, his started bobbing up and down as the upbeat chorus came up.

She laughed, stood up and had begun dancing.

When she dances, it wasn't only her limbs. Her eyes were brighter and the light would shift there, twinkling like stars. Her laugh and giggles and whoops of joy made tugged at the corners of his mouth. Neji didn't smile, and Neji never had the urge to dance along. But when she took his hand, dragged him away from the chair they've been perched at trying to solve something way complicated for their young minds, Neji felt his joints loosen and his knees weaken.

She held both his hands as they swayed their way to the music.

When the song ended, and his mother called them down for dinner, they had no choice but to stop. That exhilarating feeling, the tightening in his throat as he gazed upon her young face—Neji was sure that no matter how good or bad he did when he danced, he had fallen. He knew that the racing of his heart wasn't because of the dancing, but because of that smile she gave him before saying, 'You're a great dancer.' and then practically dragging him downstairs to have some dinner, something that might not have crossed Tenten's mother's mind.

The dancing lessons continued after that. Instead of shrugging his bag off and starting his home work, he'd pop the cassette tape inside the player that his father had given upon discovering the dancing. They danced and danced, and each time Neji felt like he could conquer the world. Each time he saw her as the most beautiful girl. It became a routine, until they turned thirteen.

Neji's parents were murdered in their home.

He was devastated and torn apart, but Tenten was his saving grace. He kept him company during the wake and always asked him what he needed but never asked him if he was okay. She knew how he felt.

They had that one last dancing lesson the night after his parents were buried. They danced first to their song, and when a different song came up, a slow and soft one, they did not stop. Tenten put her arms around his neck and placed her head on his chest. He, in turn, looped his arms around her tiny waist. They both swayed to the music with closed eyes, letting the notes guide their steps. He didn't even notice that he had pulled her closer and she had buried her face into his neck. It was magical.

But it ended too early.

With the news of his parents' death, his uncle, a formidable and rich businessman had come to take him away. He was the one who enrolled him in a private school and financed his college education. But amidst all those information, Neji thought of Tenten always. He always searched for a head with chignons within the crowd, but none.

He misses her so much and longs to dance with her again. He needed to step-up his search. He moved away from the window he had been standing by as he reminisced and opened his laptop. He opened his Facebook account, surprised that it was still alive despite three years of unuse. He searched her name and filtered the results carefully. One account caught his eye. The display picture was a young toddler with the familiar honey eyes and chocolate-coloured hair, in those chignons Tenten had been fond of.

What he saw in the profile made his heart sink and race at the same time.

Yes, it was Tenten's account, and yes the toddler was her daughter. He viewed the pictures, memorizing every new feature that he saw on her face. Despite being a mother, she still looked quite young. The toddler looked barely a year old, when had she decided to get married and have a family? His fists clenched. If he had only decided to move earlier, to get out of his brooding space and actually do something to find her…

There was a sudden knock on his door, and his secretary poked her head in. "Mr. Hyuuga, someone's looking for you. Your uncle told me to bring her here immediately."

Whoever the visitor was, he had neither the fuck nor the patience to listen.

"Hi Neji."

He knew that voice.

"Tenten?"

She laughed, and again, like a dream, she laughed. He felt like crying. "Missed me?"

"I—I—" His mask was cracking, and all those information and shit about the law flew out of mind. All he saw was Tenten, standing a stone's throw away from him. What should he do? He was starting to short circuit, and all he wanted right then and there was to take her to his arms and embrace her and keep her there forever.

So when Tenten was about to step forward and before her tears could fall, he pushed away from his desk and leapt to her, gathering her into his arms. She was sobbing and clutching on his shirt while he held her tightly, like he had done when they danced.

"I missed you. I missed you so much, Tenten. Where were you?" He whispered. The words were for her, and hers only.

She inhaled deeply, stabilizing her breathing. Tenten looked up at his face, and despite the raw eyes and red runny nose, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. "I…I think I got lost in the…uhm…road of life, Neji."

He smiled, remembering that line from their Social Sciences teacher who never managed to arrive to class on time. "I'll keep you back on track." He squeezed her tighter.

She smiled too, and how he missed that smile. He had this strong urge to kiss her right then and there.

"Well, you might want to start on helping me file a divorce."


End file.
